50% of life on Earth is "invisible," yet responsible for making the planet habitable by man. A recent effort was launched to sample Earth's incredible microbial diversity and reconstruct each organism's genome to understand its complex lifestyle. So what is this effort and how does it help us understand life on our planet?


In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)